CEOs tend to have names like 'Peter,' 'Bob,' and 'Jack,' according to LinkedIn

An analysis of the 100 million or so profiles on the professional networking site LinkedIn has found an unusually high rate of four-letter names among male CEOs. The top female CEO names are 'Deborah,' 'Sally,' and 'Debra.'

ByStephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior WriterApril 27, 2011

Saab Automotive CEO Peter Augusstson (l.) and General Motors North American Operations chairman Bob Lutz (r.) appear at a car show in Detroit in 2002. Peter and Bob are the two most common names for CEOs, both globally and in the United States.

Hoping to raise a future CEO? Try naming your kid Peter or Deborah. If having a child who grows up to be an athlete is more your style, Ryan, Matt or Jessica might be the way to go.

These are the top names for CEOs and athletes, according to online professional networking site LinkedIn. Drawing from over 100 million LinkedIn profiles, the site has released the most popular names for a variety of professions. Female engineers in the United States, for example, are very likely to be named Kiran, while "Thierry" is the most prevalent name in restaurant and food services worldwide. [Read: Most Popular Baby Names in History]

Names may not be destiny, but some research suggests that what we're called can have long-lasting effects. Boys with names typically given to girls have higher rates of behavior problems in middle school, according to one study. It seems that the boys may be compensating in the face of teasing and insecurity about their names. Having a name associated with low socioeconomic status can influence how people treat you, as can the "race" of your name. In one 2003 experiment published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, resumes sent out under the more "white-sounding" names such as "Emily" and "Greg" got more 30 percent more callbacks than identical resumes sent out under names typically associated with African Americans, such as "Lakisha" and "Jamal."

The LinkedIn analysis is limited to members of the social networking site, but it turned up some odd correlations. For one, male CEOs in the United States are unusually likely to have four-letter names, such as "Jack" or "Fred." Sales professionals in the U.S. also tend to have short names, including "Chip" and "Todd," while engineers' names are usually longer.

"Typically hypocorisms, the shorter form of a given name, are used in intimate situations as a nickname or a term of endearment," study researcher Frank Nuessel, a professor of classical and modern languages at the University of Louisville, said in a statement. "It’s possible that sales professionals in the U.S. and male CEOs around the world use these shortened versions of their name as a way to be more approachable and accessible to potential clients."

"Interestingly enough, female CEOs appear to prefer to use their full names and not nicknames, which could signify that they want to be taken more seriously and want co-workers to think of them in a more professional light," Nuessel said.